Farm implement leveling mechanism

ABSTRACT

Elevation and level control means is provided for a two-wheel farm wagon attached to a tractor by a draw bar. The draw bar is pivotally attached to the platform and is connected by a linkage member to a lever arm welded to a pivot rod journaled in the platform. Wheel mounting members are attached to the opposite ends of the pivot rod. An expansible cylinder is connected to still another lever arm welded to the pivot rod. By controlling the expansion of the cylinder, the pivot rod is rotated to thereby rotate the wheel mounting members and raise or lower the platform. Simultaneously, the draw bar is pivoted about its connection to the platform so that the hitch end of the draw bar attached to the tractor is maintained at a substantially constant level.

United States Patent Fackler et al.

[451 Apr. 25, 1972 [541 FARMIMPLEMENT LEVELING MECHANISM [72] lnventors:Kenneth C. Fackler, Anchor, 111. 61720; John 0. Bradford, 221 West 18thSt., Gib son City, 111. 60936; Elmo R.- Meiners, Anchor, 111. 61720 [22]Filed: Mar. 5, 1970 [21] Appl.No.: 16,812

[52] U.S.Cl ..280/4l4 .5,l72/328,280/43.23

[51] Int. Cl ..B62d 61/12 [58] Field ofSearch ..280/414.5,43.2 3;172/328 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,780,475 2/1957Koerner ..'.....280/414.5 2,767,538 10/1956 Scheidenhelm.......280/43.23 3,325,184 6/1967 Dunker ..'.....280/4l4.5

2,840,971 7/1958 Greeson ..172/328 Primary Examiner-Leo FriagliaAttorney-Molinare, Allegretti, Newitt & Witcoff [57] ABSTRACT Elevationand level control means is provided for a two-wheel farm wagon attachedto a tractor by a draw bar. The draw bar is pivotally attached'to theplatform and is connected by a linkage member to a lever arm welded to apivot rod journaled in the platform. Wheel mounting members are attachedto the opposite ends of the pivot rod. An expansible cylinder isconnected to still another lever arm welded to the pivot rod. Bycontrolling the expansion of the cylinder, the pivot rod is rotated tothereby rotate the wheel mounting members and raise or lower theplatform. Simultaneously, the draw bar is pivoted about its connectionto the platform so that the hitch end of the draw bar attached to thetractor is maintained at a substantially constant level.

3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures BAGKGROUND or THE INVENTION In a principalaspect, the present invention'relates to the improvement in avehicle of platform elevation and level control means.

It is not uncommon in a farming operation to provide an arrangement oftoolbars comprisinga platform of a vehicle. Variousfarmtools, may beattached to the tool bars for plowing, cultivation or. the like. When.the tools are not being used but are merely beingtransported to afieldsite prior to use or subsequent to use, it is necessary to have anarrangement whereby thevehicle platform and attached tools are elevatedabove the groundlevel. Moreover, during the particular farming operationwhich is to be performed, it is, desirable to control the depth ofpenetration of-the particular farm tools into the soil. To accomplishthese objectives, vehicles for. mounting the farm tools normally includewheels which may be adjusted to controlthe elevation of the vehicleplatform above the soil surface.

The elevation control arrangement for such a vehicle should therefore beeasily adjustable to achieve any desired elevation. It should provideaccurate and consistent control of the attitude of the vehicle withrespect tothe soil surface. For example, a number of cultivator bladesmay be attached to successive toolbars of the vehicle situated onebehind'theother. Re-

gardless of the depth of cultivation, it is desirable to maintain thefront cultivators and the rear cultivators at the same soil depth. Thus,the attitude or angle which the platform or the vehicle makes with thesoil surface is desirably kept constant regardless of the relativeelevation of the platform above the soil surface.

S A Y Q THE lN-V NTQN In a principal aspect, the present inventioncomprises the improvem entin a vehicle having a platform, at least onewheel and a draw bar of elevation and level control means. The elevationand level control means are comprised of a wheel mounting member andfirst lever arm attached to a single first pivot axis on the platformwith means to drive and rotate the mounting member and first lever armabout the axis. The first lever arm is linked to the draw bar which ispivotally attached to the platform. By rotation of the first lever armand wheel mounting member about the first pivot axis, the platformelevation is aitered while its attitude is maintained.

It is thus an object of the present invention to provide efficient andeconomical elevation and level control means for a wheeled vehicle. 7

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a levelingap'paratt s which maintains the vehicle at a constant attitude or anglerelative to the surface of the ground regardless of the controlledelevation of the vehicle above the ground.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a vehiclehaving adraw bar for attachment to a pulling vehicle, which draw barmaintains its hitch end at a substantially constant height regardless ofthe controlled elevation of the vehi cle above the ground surface.

One further object of the present invention is to provide elevation andlevel control means for a vehicle which is structurally simple, yetsound. I

These and other objects, advantages and features of the presentinvention will be set forth in greater detail in the description whichfollows:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the detailed description whichfollows, reference will be made to the drawing comprised of thefollowing figures:

FIG. I is a top plan view of a typical vehicle incorporating theimprovement of the present invention;

F IG. 2 is a side elevation of the vehicle shown in FIG. I; and

FIG. 3 is a side cross-sectional view of the vehicle shown in FIG. Itaken substantially along the line 3-3 in FIG. I.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The FIGURES illustrate theincorporation of the improvement of the present invention in a two-wheelvehicle. The vehicle is especially constructed for the purpose ofattachment of various farm tools to the tool bars incorporated as a partof the platform of the vehicle. Thus, the following description relatesparticularly to the illustrated farm vehicle. However, the invention isnot limited to farm vehicles, nor indeed, twowheel vehicles. Forexample, in the following description, the term platform" is describedas a grid of bars and members. This term is not, however, limited to thedescribed structure and should be construed broadly to include any typeof bed or other structure mounted on wheels. Also, the term "wheels"should be interpreted broadly to include wheels, runners, etc.

The platform of the illustrated farm vehicle includes four tool bars 10,12, 14 and 16 which are parallel to each other and run transverse to thedirection of intended vehicle travel. The tool bars l0, l2, l4 and 16are structurally interconnected with each other by platform framemembers 18 and 20. Outside platform frame members 22 and 24 structurallyinterconnect tool bars 10 and 12. Tool bars 12 and 14 are furtherstructurally interconnected by the middle platform frame member 28. Forpurposes of illustration of the utility of the tool bars, a combinationchisel plow and colter farm tool 26 is shown attached in a typicalconfiguration to the tool bars l0, l4 and 16.

A wheel pivot rod 30 defining a first pivot axis substantiallyperpendicular to the direction of vehicle travel is journaled inbearings 32 and 34 attached to the platform frame members 18 and 20,respectively. Wheel mounting members 36 and 38 are welded to the outsideends of the pivot rod 30. The wheel mounting members 36 and 38 thus actas lever arms about the axis defined by the rod 30. Wheels 40 and 42 areattached to axles 44 and 46, respectively, at the outside ends of themounting members 36 and 38, respectively.

Referring now particularly to FIGS. 1 and 3, a draw bar 48 is pivotallyattached to the platform by means of a rod 50. Rod 50 extends between apair of draw bar support plates 52 and 54 and defines a second pivotaxis substantially parallel to the first pivot axis defined by the pivotrod 30. The plates 52 and 54 are welded to the tool bars 10 and 12 andinclude additional bearings 56 and 58 for the pivot rod 30. First andsecond draw bar support dogs 60 and 62 are connected from draw bar 48 tohinge assemblies. For example, a hinge assembly 64 for the dog 60 isattached to tool bar 10.

The hitch end 66 of the draw bar 48 includes a pivot connection 68 whichenables a bifurcated hitch tongue 70 to be attached to a rigid hitchbaron a tractor. This permits the hitch end 66 of the draw bar 48 topivot about a horizontal axis.

A central lever plate 72 is welded to the rod 30 to rotate coincidentlytherewith. A first lever arm extension 74 of the plate 72 is pivotallyconnected at its outer end by a linkage arm 76 to the inner end of thedraw bar 48. The plate 72 also includes a second lever arm extension 78.The second lever arm extension 78 pivotally connects with a clevis 80which is attached to a rod 82 of a hydraulic cylinder 84. The oppositeend of the cylinder 84 is pivotally connected to a support plate 86which is an extension of the draw bar support plates 52 and 54. Thus,the plate 86 is fixed to the platform comprising the tool bars and framemembers. The cylinder 84 is a double-acting cylinder which requiresfirst and second hydraulic lines 88 and 90.

Also illustrated is a brace 92 which may be attached to the second leverarm extension 78 when the mechanism is not in operation such as duringstorage or the like. The brace 92 thus serves to lock the platform in acertain fixed position. For this reason, the brace 92 includes areplaceable center section 94 which may be varied according to thestorage position one desires to maintain.

The leveling and elevation mechanism operates in the following r nanner.To lower the platform, the rod 82 is retracted into the cylinder 84.This causes the second lever arm extension to rotate the wheel pivot rod30 and the attached wheel mounting members 36 and 38 in a clockwisedirection. Simultaneously, the first lever arm extension 74 is rotatedin a clockwise direction and operates through the linkage arm 76 topivot the draw bar 48 counterclockwise about the rod 50. Since theplatform is being lowered, the counterclockwise pivoting action of thedraw bar 48 about the rod 50 effectively maintains the hitch end 66 ofthe draw bar 48 at a substantially constant elevation, This results eventhough the platform and all the components attached thereto are beinglowered. Reversing the direction of rotation of the pivot rod 30reverses the rotation of the wheel mounting members 36 and 38 as well asthe draw bar 48. Of course, reversing the direction of rotation raisesthe platform By controlling the amount of clockwise rotation of thelever arm, the depth that the chisel plows 26 enter the ground can alsobe controlled. At the same time, because of the unique arrangement oflinkages and lever arms, the chisel plows 26 attached to the forwardtool bar will be maintained at the same depth as the chisel plows 26attached to the rear tool bar 16. In other words, the platform ismaintained in a level attitude regardless of the elevation of theplatform. Also, if the platform for some reason originally made an anglewith the soil surface, that angle would be maintained by the lever armsand linkage of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. ln a vehicle having a platform, a draw bar attached to said platform,said draw bar having a hitch end for connection with a driving vehicle,and at least one wheel attached to said platform, the improvement ofplatform elevation and level control means comprising, in combination:

a wheel mounting member for said wheel;

a shaft pivotally connected to said platform for rotation about a firstpivot axis substantially perpendicular to the direction of vehicletravel, said wheel mounting member having one end rigidly attached tosaid shaft to rotate in a plane substantially perpendicular to saidshaft, said wheel being rotatably mounted on the opposite end of saidmember;

a first lever arm connected to said shaft for rotation therewith aboutsaid first pivot axis;

a single linkage member connecting said first lever arm to the endopposite said hitch end of said draw bar, said draw bar comprising asubstantially straight member which is pivotally connected to saidplatform at a point intermediate the ends of said draw bar, saidconnection being intermediate said shaft and said hitch end at a lowerelevation than said shaft for rotation about a second pivot axissubstantially parallel to said first pivot axis;

a second lever arm attached to said shaft; and

means for driving said second lever arm about said first axis to raiseand lower said platfonn, said first lever arm driving said draw bar tomaintain the hitch end at a substantially fixed elevation andsimultaneously maintain the platform substantially at a fixed attitude.

2. The improved apparatus of claim 1 wherein means for rotating andmaintaining comprise an expansible cylinder connected between saidsecond lever arm and said platform.

3. The improved apparatus of claim 1 wherein said vehicle includes twowheels, each wheel having a separate mounting member.

1. In a vehicle having a platform, a draw bar attached to said platform,said draw bar having a hitch end for connection with a driving vehicle,and at least one wheel attached to said platform, the improvement ofplatform elevation and level control means comprising, in combination: awheel mounting member for said wheel; a shaft pivotally connected tosaid platform for rotation about a first pivot axis substantiallyperpendicular to the direction of vehicle travel, said wheel mountingmember having one end rigidly attached to said shaft to rotate in aplane substantially perpendicular to said shaft, said wheel beingrotatably mounted on the opposite end of said member; a first lever armconnected to said shaft for rotation therewith about said first pivotaxis; a single linkage member connecting said first lever arm to the endopposite said hitch end of said draw bar, said draw bar comprising asubstantially straight member which is pivotally connected to saidplatform at a point intermediAte the ends of said draw bar, saidconnection being intermediate said shaft and said hitch end at a lowerelevation than said shaft for rotation about a second pivot axissubstantially parallel to said first pivot axis; a second lever armattached to said shaft; and means for driving said second lever armabout said first axis to raise and lower said platform, said first leverarm driving said draw bar to maintain the hitch end at a substantiallyfixed elevation and simultaneously maintain the platform substantiallyat a fixed attitude.
 2. The improved apparatus of claim 1 wherein meansfor rotating and maintaining comprise an expansible cylinder connectedbetween said second lever arm and said platform.
 3. The improvedapparatus of claim 1 wherein said vehicle includes two wheels, eachwheel having a separate mounting member.